Chapter 5: Society and Inequality in Eurasia/ North Africa

As the chapter opens, it discusses how the last 250 years have called into question social patterns long assumed to be natural and permanent (191). The chapter then discusses the framework of Eurasia and North Africa, specifically focusing on the social arrangements and relationships between the rich and poor, the powerful and powerless, slaves and free people, and men and women (192).

The second wave era (similar to the first civilizations) were deeply divided in class lines, and they were patriarchal, with women clearly subordinate to men in almost all domains of life (192).

In building these societies they differ from each other significantly:
- China: unique in that they were shaped by the actions of the state with all of the most politically powerful and socially prestige of Chinese state officials being male; acting in the name of the emperor in the province and the capital
- An Elite of Officials: "Proximity to the capital and family connections to the imperial court also helped in gaining a position in this highest of Chinese elites" (193).
-Landlord Class: most of the officials came from weal thing families, meaning that they have possession of land; "large landowning families, therefore, remained a central feature of Chinese society although the fate of individual families rose and fell as the wheel of fortune raised them to great prominence or plunged them into poverty and disgrace" (195).
-Peasants: consisted of the vast majority of the population; lived in small households with two-three generations; some were able to make it by with the little money they mad but other could barely survive
-Merchants: seen as unproductive; "making a shameful profit from selling the work of other" (198).

Class and Caste in India:
- "Caste represented a means of accommodating the many migrating or invading peoples who entered the subcontinent" (203)
- Caste and hinduism provided an integrative mechanism for Indian civilization; "caste" translates to "race" or "purity of blood"
- China and India's social organization were based on determining social status for most people; most people were born into a certain group and remained in that group for their whole lives- four groups: Brahmins, Kshatriya, Vaisya, and Sudra

Slavery and the Roman Empire:
-Records show that it was possible that women were held captive as the first slaves and usually were raped, while the males that were held captive were killed.
-Slavery was a common practice in Chinese, Indian, and Persian (with the Indus Valley people) civilizations and the Greco-Roman society was heavily slave based

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